Taxi Cost

chrismck

Posted: Sun, May 10, 2015, 20:45

Hi. We are finally headed to Corsica and are very excited! It is a place we have wanted to see for a long time.

We don't have enough time to do the whole Tra Mare e Monti and see all that we want to see if Northern Corsica. We would like to hike Fango valley and the coast so we are thinking of taking a taxi from Calvi to Tuarelli and then hiking to Galeria (before hiking to Girolata, Curzu, Porto and Piana over the next several days). Can we get a cab on demand to take us to Tuarelli or is this something that should be booked ahead of time? Any rough estimate as to what a taxi from Calvi to Tuarelli would cost?

Also, we will be spending another week exploring the island and hope to have someone transfer our non-backpacking luggage from Calvi to Piana where we will end our hike. Anyone ever do anything like this? Any recommendations as to who might be able to assist with this?

Hello, you have every reason to be excited....Corse is a grand place to explore.
Do you arrive by boat to the harbour in Calvi or to the airport?
Much easier, I guess, to get a taxi from the Ste. Catherine airport. Must say that I have only ever arrived to Calvi by train from Bastia or by Ferry direct to Calvi. We either got the bus from outside the travel Information place or have taken the taxi from the 'stand' nearby.
The cost to reach, in our case Calinzana, for both the GR20 and for the Tra Mare e Monti was around 30 euros. To reach the Fango valley with a distance of more than twice that to Calinzana....more than 60 euros? You could always cut the distance by not going as far as Tuarelli. From lower down the Fango you could still get to Galeria which would save doubling back on the Fango?

Thanks for your reply! We have dreamed about going to Corsica since 2006 so it's great to finally see it come to fruition. It looks spectacular. Our tickets are bought and most of our plans are in place! Now we need to learn a little french. We are very adept at drinking french wine, but speaking the french language is a whole other story! :)

Thanks also for the information - it's very helpful. We fly into Calvi the day before we start the hike and are going to spend the night in Calvi so we'll get a taxi from in town, hopefully after a good nights sleep and a few hours to explore before heading out. It'll be nice to go when we are ready. The cost is helpful. We figured it wouldn't be cheap but how 'not-cheap' is great for us to know for planning purposes. Its nice to know we can decide how far to have the driver take us based on cost, how jet lagged we feel, and what time we leave.

Sounds good. If the transport is similar at Ste. Catherine to what it was at Bastia Poretta there was a bus for around 9 euros into Bastia. Which would save you a few euros on the price of a taxi?
As far as the transporting of luggage from Calvi to Porto maybe the bus from Calvi would do that for you? Perhaps have a look around the site since it has come up on the Forum before but for other transfers. In Europe it is quite difficult to arrange for luggage transport nowadays on account of the 'dangerous exploding packages' etc.
Our only experience with 'sent on' packages was in 2007 on the island but that was an arrangment with a lady in Haut Ascu who kindly dropped a package off at Ponte Leccia with some of my wife's not needed kit on the fourth day of our travel on the GR20. That was of course by train which we picked up in Bastia station before taking a bus out to Poretta at the end of our stay. You won't have the train option between Calvi and Porto!

We'll check it out when we get to St. Catherine. We'll probably be pretty jet lagged after 3 flights from Seattle to get there so we may just splurge, but sometimes you get there in the same time frame so what's the point of spending extra $ when you don't need to!?

We are contacting a few travel agencies to see what they can do for us in terms of transporting luggage. Didn't think of the exploding packages thing....it's such a different world these days. We probably could go back to Calvi but were hoping to get a bus 'tour' through Cargese, Sargone to Ajaccio and check out some wine shops in Ajaccio when picking up the rental car, but this isn't essential. Thanks again for your response.

One more sort of random question. Do you know what, if anything, is going on in Corte in early Oct? Every room is booked which was a surprise to us since we thought we were going in shoulder season. The only thing I could feret out is some antique car get together. Perhaps its really popular or it doesn't take much to fill all the hotels in Corte?! Maybe antique car driving is more popular than I imagined. Perhaps many of the hotels close the end of September.

Christy,
If your short of time and still want to see the best of the Tra Mare e Monti I will suggest this.
Forget the taxi and the Tuarelli to Galaria stage. It's probably the most subdued section of the walk.
As long as you are not moving on from Calvi on Sunday, chill in town till 1530 then catch the bus to Galeria.
The Galeria to Girolata stage would be, as Gaffr and most others would agree, an absolutly stunning introduction to Corsica. Then walk on all the way to Cargese, from where you can catch the 1710 bus back down the coast to Piana or Porto (but not on Sundays).
Steve.
p.s
I'm camped at Piana myself at the moment, after walking down from Calenzana.
Sorry, but I have no idea about the luggage transfers.

I would agree that if on a short stay schedule that picking up the route near Galeria is definitely for the best....I thought that is what was planned from the beginning.
The two stages from Calinzana to Tuvarelli are less interesting ( on a hot day, after the bealach, the forest track down to near Bonifatu was tedious) in fact rather than go down to the stage overnight stop we bivvyed out on the bocca di Lucca in cooler air. The Fango valley is well talked about but to me it seemed more of an attraction to the car bound folks.
Another thought is that I almost sure that the bus that we took from Porto, after taking an additional bus from Near Cargese to reach Calvi, did not go into Galeria. The bus, I'm fairly sure, took the crossing of the Fango at Pont des Cinq Arcades without a deviation into Galeria. This was coming back for the ferry after a trip along the MM Nord.

We made our plan, on this visit to the island, to have an alternative walk from Calinzana to Porto Vecchio via three of the long distant routes so not everyday is spent in A1 surroundings!

Gaffr,
You are right about the bus, but it would leave you with only the last mile or so to walk, rather than road slapping from the Ponte Vecchiu followed by the rather circuitous trudge through mostly tall maquis
Still, almost everyone has their own ideas on itinerary.
Steve

Sorry for the delay in getting back. We were visiting the San Juan Islands here in the Northwest (the Orca whale sightings were great!). Anyway, thanks for the additional information. We basically have 4 full days of walking. I've outlined two possibilities below. Since we are traveling from so far I thought an easy/shorter walk the first day (Tuarelli/Galeria) might be a nice way to start. The alternative would be option 2, which basically boils down to Fango Valley or Spelunca Gorge. Opinions?

Yes Curzu to Ota would be a long day. We walked Curzu to Serriera and since it was a short stage went down into Partinello for a look around before reaching Serriera for the overnight.
You say cut the long stage short and reach Porto directly? I think that there is a minor trail from Capu San Petru down to the area of Porto but have never walked this so have no knowledge of how long it would take. If you are walking with a very light pack maybe you could get from Curzu to Ota in a reasonable time?
Did you see the information on the Forum regarding the alternative route from Girolata to Curzu? going by Bocca a Croce is free of problems well it was for us in 2009.

Hi Christy,
I'm now back in the U.K and having re-read the posts I fear I was far to negative on the Tuarelli- Galeria stage.
There is some road to walk and some of the maquis is tall and dense, but on the whole it's pleasant enough.The section alongside the Fango is actually very nice.Given that you have flown halfway across the universe to get there,it would be a more sensible stage to start with. Galeria-Girolata would certainly require an early start from Calvi.
I had'nt really taken these factors into account when I first posted, so please accept my apoligies for causing you any confusion or consternation.
Steve

Thanks for both of your input. We have decided to stick with our original plan of starting in Tuarelli. It does give us 4 days of continuous walking without transport once we get going, which we like. We wish we had more time, but couldn't pass up seeing other parts of Corsica. We ended up booking with Europe Active as they will transport our bags along the way so that's taken care of.

Gaffr, they say the route from Curzu to Porto is 6:30 hours - I'll report back to let the forum know how the route turns out. Steve, no worries at all. Thanks for chiming in. It's nice of you both to take the time.

Hi. We are planning on our first hiking trip in Corsica, taking the Mare e Monto from Galéria to Cargèse in July for 7 days. We will have our car with us and are wondering how best to link up the start of our trip in Galéria and the end of our trip at Cargèse. One idea is to leave the car at Porto and take the bus at 10 am to Fango carrefour Galéria to start the hike probably the next day. At the end of the hiking trip, we could leave Cargèse by bus at 12:30 and arrive at Porto to pick up the car.

Any thoughts on either the practicality of this plan or a better option to propose would be much appreciated.

Hello,
That would sound fine.
My experience with way back in 2008 was that having finished the route at Cargese ( on this occasion it was on the MM Nord our travel on the Mare e Monti N. was a year later...both routes share the same finish) we could get by bus to Porto but there was no connection Galeria/Calvi....we spent a fine night camping in the busy Porto and continued our journey the following day. Porto is a pleasant wee place with good walking close by.

It looks like there is indeed a bus from Cargèse to Porto and another from Porto to Fango, crossroads a kilometer from Galeria, but with different bus companies. Do you know whether there is a secure parking lot at Porto where we can leave the car for a week while we are hiking?

Is it possible to take a dog on the Mare e Monto Nord and stay at the gîtes d'étape or camping sights with the dog?

Hello,
That probably explains the break in the bus service at Porto....two different bus companies....I was not paying attention to this. Anyway we liked out wee stay in Porto.
As I said Porto is a bustling place well it was when we were there at the end of June 2008 so I was thinking when I wrote the first reply that space for motors did not look to be large.
We camped at the Gite/camping at Galeria where it looked as if there was plenty of space for motors. I think that there are two gite/camp places in Galeria this one was beside the trail.
You will certainly get the best of the route by starting at Galeria. Day one on the trail from Calinzana to Bonifatu we were at the mercy of the hot sun....walking in a southerly direction. On day two we had the shade from the forest and slept out at the Bocca di Lucca then had breakfast at Tuarelli before walking along the Fango valley to Galeria.
Didn't see any dogs with walkers. The only ones we came across were fast asleep in the sun beside their owners homes.